PixlBit

In 2006 Grasshopper Manufacture, best known at the time for its surreal GameCube shooter Killer7, tried its hand at the portable RPG with a quirky little game called Contact. An action RPG at heart, Contact failed to live up most people’s expectations of the genre, but its unique ideas make it worth remembering.

The story in Contact involves three characters. The first is the Professor, a strange little man whose space ship has crashed to Earth, scattering its power cells and leaving him stranded. The second character is a boy named Terry who the Professor enlists to retrieve the ship’s power cells. The third character is you, the player. The game takes a sledgehammer to the fourth wall right at the beginning and makes you an integral part of the story. (Reminds me of Baten Kaitos where the player is technically the guardian spirit of the main character, not the character himself.) But while you do control Terry, the Professor is anxious to keep your existence hidden from him.

The game employs two very different art styles. The Professor stays in his ship on the top screen and is represented by a very simple, almost 8-bit art style. When screenshots of the game were first released many people believed it would be an homage to Earthbound but the graphical similarities are just coincidence, an attempt by the developers to make the Professor seem different and alien to Terry. On the bottom screen Terry explores the prerendered outside world that has an almost painted look. It’s a little bland but certainly gets the job done without problems.

Combat, unfortunately, does not have much depth and is often cited as one of the game’s weakest aspects. The press of a button causes Terry to start exchanging blows with any enemy within range (think typical MMO combat). The use of items and special abilities doesn’t add much to the mix. And since there are no random encounters, enemies can often be bypassed altogether, though you’ll find yourself ill-prepared for the bosses if you do. But death merely transports you back to the Professor’s ship, making the tedium of walking back to where you were the worst consequence of running out of health. Single-use decals (replenished at the Professor’s ship) help spice things up a little but on the whole, dull combat and some necessary grinding do pull down the middle somewhat. The game can also be a little too vague at times on where to go and what to do next, almost reminiscent of an NES game.

But it’s not as bad as it sounds. One of the most interesting parts of the game is the costumes. Contact’s version of a job system, basically. Terry can acquire costumes—like cook, thief, and pilot, for instance—that grant him different abilities and stat boosts. The more you use a costume, the greater its effect. Some costumes can only be acquired by finishing certain sidequests, encouraging you to explore the world. And you’ll want to explore the world because Atlus did a bang up job on the localization, giving the game a great humorous feel. It’s also a little on the short side, especially for an RPG, clocking in at about ten hours.

Like most of the work that comes out of Grasshopper Manufacture, Contact is an enjoyable game that has some rough spots. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea but it’s unique enough that you won’t know till you give a try.

P.S. In our post-1UP world I can't help but post Jeremy Parish's review of Contact for further reference, in case I've piqued your interest. It's characteristically good.